At a recent conference in Bet Shemesh, organized by Mayor Shmuel 'Shmulik' Greenberg, Minister of Housing Yitzchak Goldknopf made a statement that got him in some trouble. During his talk he said that even housing that had been designated for the general public has been redirected and sold for the Haredi public specifically. He would not give details, but that is what he said. 

I am not the Haredi Housing Minister. I am a minister in the State of Israel who is committed to the entire public with no differentiation between race and religion. The Haredi community suffers the housing crisis the worst, but I will work for everyone. I do not live broad, I know both the upper and lower Israels. the lower Israel is the one that is living, mostly young couples, underground in parking lots and hovels and machsanim. Our task will be to get them out of there. The first thing I will do in my role is listen.

I don't determine for them whether or not they can meet with Abu Mazen - they shouldn't determine for me where there should be a building freeze in Judea and Samaria.

Minister of Interior Ayelet Shaked announced plans for the establishment of 10 new communities in southern Israel. Shaked says this will strengthen the southern settlements and also will prevent further takeover of government lands by Bedouin communities. Also, using empty land for housing construction will ease the housing crisis, and it will help the entire population of the southern region.

בשבוע הבא יפגשו החכים החרדים עם כחלון ויבקשו פתרון למצוקת הדיור החרדית. אפשר לחשוב שבמגזר הכללי הוא מצא פתרון. כמו לבקש תרומות מפושט רגל

— יעקב ריבלין (@arivlin1) November 28, 2016

Haredi journalist Yaakov Rivlin says that next week the Haredi MKs will be meeting with Kachlon and will demand a solution to the Haredi housig crisis. One might think that he has already found a solution for the housing crisis of the general public. This is like asking for donations from someone who went bankrupt.

Haredi rabbonim of Harei neighborhoods of Jerusalem had a meeting in which they discussed issues affecting the community, specifically the issue of the housing crisis.

According to Behadrei, the result of the meeting was that despite the severe shortage of available housing in the Haredi community, the rabbonim have instructed the Haredi representatives in office to oppose construction of tall buildings.

Two reasons are mentioned for opposing tall buildings:
1. it is not appropriate for the Haredi lifestyle. They often do not rely on "Shabbos elevators". Often such buildings do not or cannot include sukka porches. etc
2. Such buildings might be an attraction for more modern families to move in (i.e because they do rely on "Shabbos elevators").

The first issue is perfectly reasonable, in my opinion. If tall buildings are not appropriate for the Haredi community, buildings in Haredi areas should not be constructed in that fashion.

The second issue bothers me. It does not bother me directly, but in a more roundabout way. I get that they want to keep their neighborhoods with like-minded people, and that makes sense to me (even if I don't necessarily agree).

However, when we see the Haredi community moving into secular neighborhoods and then making changes due to their presence, and fighting against any opposition to them, with what right do they have to turn around and say we don't want anyone different from us in our own neighborhoods, while at the same time saying you have to accept us in your neighborhoods despite our differences?

The second claim is specious at best, and hypocritical at worst.

They talk about a demarcation line, north of which would be declared Haredi neighborhoods, and south of which would not be. So in other words, north of which only Haredim can buy homes in, south of which only secular can buy homes in, until the Haredim also want to.

MK Uri Maklev is against a proposal for a new tax on people who own 3 (or more) apartments. Maklev says he opposes it because it will mostly hurt avreichim.

I saw some notice about this and it made me go "huh?". How would such a tax hurt avreichim? Are avreichim commonly real estate moguls?

A bit of research led me to understand better what he is opposing and why. As part of a new tax plan being proposed by Finance Minister Moshe Kachlon, one aspect of it has a new tax on people who own 3 apartments.

Supposedly there are about 50,000 such people in Israel.

The owner will be given an opportunity to select which of the apartments should be considered his third. If he does not select one, the State will select a default on his behalf, supposedly the cheapest of the 3 apartments.

The finance Ministry officials also are promoting this as a boon to the housing crisis. they say that to avoid this tax people will sell those third or fourth apartments, thus creating more available supply in the housing market. Ergo, housing prices will come down a bit.

So, how does this hurt avreichim?

According to Maklev, this will more likely cause rental prices to go up, which will essentially hurt avreichim. the owners will absorb the taxes and raise the rental fees to cover them.

In addition, it seems that avreichim do invest in real estate, according to Maklev. Maklev says they choose to invest in real estate and get better and/or safer returns than regular investments. Many families choose to buy an additional apartment with their money that will go up in value.

Maklev says if the Finance Ministry wants to bring in more tax money they should do it by increasing the supply and build more houses rather than take the small money from its citizens who just want to marry off their kids respectably.
source: haredim10 and Kooker

I wonder if Maklev can produce actual numbers on how many of the 50k people owning 3 apartments or more in Israel are Haredim. I am curious if they are a majority, a minority, a significant minority, or if he is just making assumptions...

Housing Minister: I'm not trying to lower housing costs anymore

  -- INN

giving up after just a year? he is going to work on other ideas to make a home purchase more realistic (like giving special benefits to people buying first time homes), but cutting housing costs seems to be unrealistic

Yaakov Gutterman, mayor of Modiin Ilit, has an interesting position on Haredi housing.

Gutterman thinks it is wrong to build Haredi cities and towns. Rather, Haredi neighborhoods should be built in existing cities. Cities should be given [tax and other] incentives to build housing and attract Haredim.

Gutterman explains the problem is that people think that Haredim do not work and are not creative and do not pay arnona, and that being the case they obviously do not want to bring such people to their cities. As well, anybody possibly bringing many Haredim to his city is worried that by changing the demographics he is putting his own position as mayor at risk in future elections.

Gutterman says the only thing that will work is to give tax incentives, as well as working to abolish the stigma, and instead of thinking Haredim will ruin their cities, they will realize that Haredim will bring blessing to their cities.
source: Kooker

Gutterman is right, but only partially, I think. Those are concerns, and they should be dealt with. Haredi communities should join other cities, in addition to having their own cities that are [mostly] Haredi.

What Gutterman does not mention is another concern city officials have when approached about building for Haredim, and I've heard this a number of times - they are worried that the Haredim will change the style and culture of those cities. They are worried that if they bring in neighborhoods of Haredim they will suddenly find themselves with signs about tzniyus, women being censored, problems on the buses with women being intimidated or sent to the back, roads closed on Shabbos, and in some places maybe fights over businesses on Shabbos and kashrut issues, etc. etc..

In other words, there are more concerns than just demographics and arnona. They are often concerned about changing the atmosphere and bringing in people who will act against the lifestyle the previous residents want and always lived by.

To that end, whatever can be done to educate the relevant mayors and people as to how and where those concerns are unfounded should be done. However, it is also, at least partially, true. Haredim live a different lifestyle, and bringing in significant numbers will naturally effect change in the city -0 change that they may see as undesired.

Breaking stigmas and changing attitudes should not just bea one way street. According to Gutterman, the cities, the mayors, the secular, should be made to understand that Haredim are good and productive. And of course paying them off with tax incentives also helps. According to Gutterman, it is incumbent on everyone else to get used to the Haredim. I would say it is also incumbent on the Haredi community to learn to get along with everyone else. Find a way to convince others that you can be good neighbors, that you wont demand closing their streets on Shabbos, that you won't throw pashkevilim all over the streets every Friday afternoon, that you won't harass their women about tzniyus, and whatever else.

It takes two to tango.
.

We started a process of lessening demand by increasing the purchase tax.  We were criticized for it, but I am at peace with our process. It cannot be that someone with means can buy 4 apartments while young couples are distanced from being able to buy apartments. I said to the investors, who says you need to diminish the apartments available for young couples? Everybody has to take others into account.. some people have 2, 3 or 4 or even more apartments. One cannot consume the entire world. We have to take into consideration our children so we made the decision to chase investors away from the market.

  -- Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon

sounds strange for a Finance Minister to make a decision, and be proud of it, to chase away investors.

Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon held the first session of his "cabinet" to deal with the housing crisis.. one of the members in attendance was Minister of Economics Aryeh Deri.

Deri complained that there are no plans to build for the Haredi community while there is a severe shortage of housing available that is appropriate for Haredim..
source: Ladaat and Kooker

First of all, welcome to Bet Shemesh, Mr. Deri. 50,000 homes for Haredim in Bet Shemesh are either being built or in various stages of planning. And more are planned for the future.

And then, let's not forget about Harish and Kassif. These are two cities that were approved for planning and construction specifically for the Haredi community.

What's he complaining about?

I am no economist, but it seems to me that Kahlon's plan that will meddle with the free market is a bad idea and will backfire.

Kahlon announced his first law proposal being the "Fair Rent Law". Kahlon is focusing on trying to bring housing costs down, and with this bill he is focusing on rental prices.

The idea of Kahlon's proposal is that rental prices would be standardized, and landlords would be limited in their ability to raise rent - once a renter signs on an apartment, the landlord will not be allowed to raise the rent for a period of three to five years, though the rent could increase as it would be tied so some housing market index, or a flat 2% per year.

It seems to me, in my non-expert opinion, that this is meddling in the free market. If landlords cannot charge the rent they want, and cannot raise rents when values go up, when supply is down and when demand is high, they won't invest in real estate.

Perhaps landlords will decide to sell their apartments, with their rental income limited, and that will flood the housing market and bring prices down. Maybe that is really behind Kahlon's plan.

I think the market should dictate what landlords can charge. If a landlord charges too much, he wont find a renter.

I have no problem with his ideas of taxing rental income from the first shekel. I don't see why I need to pay taxes on my income from the first shekel but landlords do not need to. So I am fine with that. They should pay taxes on their income like everybody else. That is not meddling i the market.

Telling landlords they cannot raise the prices, despite an apartment increasing in value due to local market forces seems unfair to the landlord.

Kahlon should increase the number of public housing units available where the government can establish rent control. I don't think he should meddle and control rental prices in the private market.

what do you think?

Thanks to the astute reader whop sent me this screen shot from Globes...

they are either covering their bases or they just are not sure...

this is cool.. and seems to be creating much cheaper housing solutions than Lapid's 18% VAT discount will...

The announcement of approval of construction in areas of Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and Judea and Samaria in light of the Palestinian unity government is good news.

A word of pause - don't get too excited. Been there, done that. These things take so long, and will get stopped so many times in the future for political considerations, that you should not hold your breath waiting for these homes to get built. It is a provocative announcement, and is meant to be provocative - not to actually jump-start construction.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid today announced his plan to make housing cheaper and more affordable for young couples.. Lapid's plan consists of lowering the VAT on the first apartment purchase of a young couple - lowering it all the way down to 0% (from 18%), effectively giving young couples an 18% discount.

The qualifications for this discount would be that:
1. it applies only when buying a new apartment direct from the kablan
2. at least one spouse in the marriage has served n the IDF
3. the married couple has at least one child
4. they will not be allowed to sell the apartment for a minimum of 5 years

while one might say this plan is clearly prejudiced against the haredi community, considering the recently passed draft law that will theoretically increase the draft in the haredi community, it might not actually be so. Possibly, Lapid's plan is partially to encourage, using the carrot this time, more haredim to willingly be drafted - 18% is a lot of money to save.

Housing Minister Uri Ariel says this project will not withstand the test of the Supreme Court and will be canceled for being discriminatory. Ariel wants the program expanded to include haredim and couples with no children, as well as not just limiting it to first-apartment-purchases.. Ariel says this is what will truly affect housing prices, and not just the first purchase which is only 8% of the home purchases.

If you are a vacation-home owner in Israel, the State is about to dig a bit deeper into your pockets..

The State does not actually want to just find ways to take your money. What they actually want is that these vacation homes should not sit empty all year round. They think that by doubling th taxes on empty apartments, the owners will be encouraged to rent those apartments out instead of letting them sit empty. The thought is that rental prices of apartments, for example in Jerusalem, are high due to a shortage of available apartments. At the same time there is a significant number of apartments that sit empty for much of the year while the owners live elsewhere, perhaps even abroad. Those empty apartments have a significant part in crating the shortage of available rental homes, thus driving prices too high to be considered affordable..

The Finance Committee of the Knesset yesterday approved the collection of double taxes on such empty apartments. The details presented show that in Israel there are 46,855 empty apartments, with the 3 main cities grabbing a large portion of those numbers: Tel Aviv has 4746 empty apartments, Haifa has 3445, and Jerusalem has 3429.

The rule will be that any apartment that sits empty for 9 months out of the year will be taxed double the normal arnona rates. This new system of double arnona will be in place for a period of two years, after which the entire issue will be reevaluated to see how the change actually affected the real estate market.

Local authorities will have the ability to decide on which apartments to charge double arnona, as well as having the ability to grant exemptions based on unique circumstances.

So, if you have apartments that sit empty, be prepared to pay more arnona. Or rent it out. Or leave your lights on. From what i understand, the method to be used for determining if an apartment sits empty is based on how much or little electricity usage will be recorded. If an apartment registers below a certain amount of electricity, it will be considered empty and its arnona will be doubled.

Will this help? Surely some people will decide to rent out their empty apartments, or maybe sell them, while surely some will be willing to be double arnona to avoid having people mess up their vacation home. Not everybody wants to or can afford to pay double taxes (that are probably already high anyway) just because they have a vacation apartment or might be rich. At the same time, if they agree to rent out these apartments, will renting out luxury apartments at high rental prices really solve the problem of affordable housing for regular people? Will these owners rent out their luxury apartments to students and young couples who cannot afford the high rental prices? I am not so sure that targeting these apartments is the solution that will have a significant effect on the market..

According to this report on Bechadrei, the Regional Planning and Construction Board made changes to the plans for one section of RBS D and has filed it and made it available for public opposition.

The plan is for 1200 apartments in Southwest Bet Shemesh. The main change is that the plans will include some very tall buildings - some of them as tall as 12 story buildings, thus making it more compatible for the non-haredi community than for the Haredi community.

It is generally thought that Haredim avoid buying in high-rise buildings because they try to avoid using "Shabbos elevators" and do not want to have to walk up so many flights of stairs. This is why the other neighborhoods of RBS C, D and E have been planned with buildings that are maximum 5 stories tall.

The plans include a section for commerce, business, public buildings, schools, medical center, gas station, a neighborhood park and a large park.

I do not know how this will affect the opposition to the construction plans of new neighborhoods. Will they still be opposed as being built only for Haredim? This might not affect the complaints coming from the environmentalists, but those from the social perspective might lose their main argument. I hope and expect that community leaders in Bet Shemesh will work to put together buyers groups and try to attract young couples and families to buy in this new neighborhood, if it will be approved.

I think the best possible situation is one that includes no ghettos - everybody lives together. mixed cities. Diversity. Everyone should learn to respect each other and learn to live with each other.

Some say it is not possible - there is just too much of a culture clash - haredim need to live only among their own, secular on their own (DL seem to be able to live with secular and vice versa, and maybe even with haredim but only in small numbers), Arabs on their own, etc. Even within Haredi communities, different types of Haredim often have trouble living too close to each other. It prevents the inevitable culture clash. Just look at Bet Shemesh where the culture clashes have become like a national pastime. Some cities have even had campaigns where they use slogans like "we are not Bet Shemesh", "we don't want to become the next Bet Shemesh".....

The thing is, nowadays putting people together does not work - people fight when Haredim move into an existing city or neighborhood and get upset that they are "taking over", and people get upset when an isolated city or neighborhood is being built for haredim. As long as planning of such cities and neighborhoods is done properly, or at least in a way that will not harm nearby communities, and it is not done in a discriminatory way - communities are also planned/built to alleviate the shortages in other communities as well - there should not be any opposition to a standalone Haredi community.

The way it works now is that people oppose letting Haredim move (en masse) into existing cities and neighborhoods, and people oppose Haredim having cities or towns built just for them. So where are Haredim supposed to live?

I write this because this morning the Cabinet held its weekly session in Sde Boker to mark the yahrtzeit of David Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister and a founding father of the State. During the session the Cabinet voted in favor of building a number of new cities n the southern pat of Israel. One of those cities is Kasif - a city designated for Haredim. The vote passed with 8 in favor and 5 against.

Kasif is being planned to bear some 50,000 Haredi residents - 10,000 homes, in the first stages of the town.

In addition to Kasif, 2 other towns were also approved - Shizaf and Chiran (Chiran for the dati community and Shizaf for the secular).

The approval comes automatically with opposition. A group of mayors and regional heads from the area filed opposition to having such massive absorption of Haredim in the area - their demand for a certain lifestyle will become a burden on the existing society and will deter others from coming to the area. Environmentalist groups oppose it sayign thaat there is no need to establish a new town - instead existing towns, such as Arad, Yerucham, Ofakim, Dimona and Netivot, should be grown, especially as they have not reached their expansion limits.
(source: Globes)

Any valid claims should definitely be dealt with. Proper infrastructure in these new towns should be planned and built. Plans should include adequate schools, shuls, mikvas, matnas and sports facilities, along with parks, business and commercial centers, plans for bringing places of employment, etc. It should be planned properly and they should not be left to become a burden on other nearby towns. If the planning will be done properly, there should be no reason for opposition to such a community.

The truth is also that these towns have already been approved already, each of them years ago at different times. I am not sure what was done today different than previous decisions - maybe now they will actually get started on them?



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Donate to the Schneider Hospital so I can run the Schneider benefit marathon..

Some secrets were meant to be kept, and some secrets were meant to be leaked.

I don't know how long this secret has been kept under wraps, but considering the release of 104 terrorists was only announced a few days ago, the secret deal between PM Netanyahu and Habayit Hayehudi cannot have existed for very long.

It seems that they had a secret arrangement by which Habayit Hayehudi would support the release of the 104 terrorists, in exchange for the construction in Judea and Samaria of thousands of additional housing units.

Habayit Hayehudi has not confirmed the secret deal, which was given an awful lot of exposure for something so secret, and has said that they are constantly demanding continued construction of additional housing in Judea and Samaria, and they voted unanimously against the decision to release terrorists. Other anonymous Habayit Hayehudi officials said that the secret deal is what allowed the release to pass fairly quietly - even though Habayit Hayehudi voted against, they did let it pass quietly without making much of a ruckus.

The exposure of a secret deal like this is surely not going to be viewed upon favorably by those working on peace negotiations, specifically John Kerry who has done a lot to bring the Palestinians to the table, nor to the Palestinians themselves, who will likely exploit this to halt the negotiations (even though there never was an official building freeze since the 10 month freeze a few years ago) that have hardly begun, and the Left wing politicians in Israel who point to it as an indication that the PM is trying to undermine the negotiations right from the start - even though no building freeze was made conditional for the start of negotiations.

Either way, some people just can't keep a secret. Unless they never intended to..